Blog Challenge: Day 18

I took a little break from blogging if you hadn't noticed. There have been lots of projects going on at my house this week so I was much more focused on those. On the plus side, those projects give me lots of things to blog about soon! Get excited.

I'm determined to finish my topic challenge though, so my next topic is: My Beliefs. It doesn't clarify what kind of beliefs, so I will tell you my basic life beliefs. :)

1. Life is meant to be enjoyed.
2. If french fries are wrong, I dont want to be right.
3. Having good girlfriends makes a woman's quality of life better.
4. Family is what you make, not always what you're given.
5. Laughter is the cure to pretty much everything.
6. Babies cheeks are meant to be eaten. Or at least kissed profusely.
7. Money isn't everything.
8. Snow should last only through December.
9. Exercise is critical for mental health.
10. Everyone should be married to their best friend.
11. Sunshine and warmth is good for the soul.
12. If you're going to do something, do it right.
13. Having bad manners tells me you have a crappy character.
14. Women can do anything men can do, and sometimes, do it better.
15. If you're not willing to do the work for something, you're not entitled to complain that you dont have it.

I think that's a good start. I think that's a healthy manifesto to run my life by. Until next time my friends.

Blog Challenge: Day 17

Well hello friends! I'm glad you are reading..even if you're not commenting. I will keep on keeping on!

Today's challenge topic: My Highs and Lows of the Past Year
(I will try and remember the year chronologically haha)

Highs:

• Feb: We bought our first house!!
• April: Enjoyed an awesome vacation with my hubby to Arizona
• April: Got to watch my beautiful nugget niece McKenzie be born into the world
• July: Ran a 10k..which is something I always wanted to do but never thought I would
• August: Found out I was pregnant!
• November: Went on a bucket list vacation along the California coast
• All Year: First year of my life I have felt pretty much completely satisfied. I felt like things were moving in the direction I wanted them too, whether it was settling into a home, getting my weight and health on track, loving my job, enjoying a great relationship with my hubs or building our family together

Lows:

• Struggling with my parents not being a real part of my life.. this is forever ongoing I'm afraid
• Struggling with being in a parenting role that I have no control over the outcome or decisions made...also forever ongoing
• In June my Aunt died after a long battle with breast cancer
• Had a corneal ulcer..that was the most miserable 3 days of my life.
• Lilith Fair got cancelled at last minute...total heartbreak.

All in all, 2010 was a pretty great year. I can't complain seeing as I had to search through old Facebook posts to figure out my lows for the year. :)

Here's hoping 2011 is even better!

Blog Challenge: Day 16ish

I haven't been blogging everyday, but since no one is really reading, no one is noticing! So I'm going to go ahead and state that I may or may not blog everyday, but I will get through this topic challenge!


Today's topic is supposed to be my thoughts on mainstream music. But why the heck would I write about that? I like music, whether is mainstream, indie or other. If it's good, it's good and I support it. That's all.


So how about we talk about this whole pregnancy thing for a minute? I am now 29 weeks preggo. It's crazy to think that in about 11 weeks I will be a mom!! Weird. Luckily, it's been a really easy 7 months for me. I haven't been sick at all, I have no real discomfort, I don't even have cravings or food aversions. The only things I can't get away from is my growing body and the unrelenting exhaustion. I'm tired all the time. Working has been pretty easy. I don't get sore or tired while working, but as soon as I'm done with a long day, that's it. I need to put my feet up pronto and take a nap sometimes.


The nugget has been moving a lot lately and I can finally feel her all over the place. For a long time I only felt kicks WAY down low. Today when I was at the doctor she was moving all over the place while my midwife was trying to listen to her heartbeat. My midwife was like "Is it ALWAYS like this?" But no, it's not. Really that just happens when I lay back for some reason.


We haven't started on the nursery yet. We have been finishing the room in the basement for Jasmine. On Monday the carpet is getting installed and then it's on for the nursery! I can't wait to get all the stuff I have crammed in the office organized. It's driving me crazy.


Let's see..whats else might anyone care about? How about a little picture? We had to get two ultrasounds for safety's sake and when we went back for our follow up the tech put it in 4D mode for us on her face. It was totally unexpected but we saw right away that our nugget has Daniel's nose! We always joked that that was the one thing we could go for him not passing on but it looks like it's all hers! Oh, and the big lips are a given. :) Here's our little girl nugget at 20 weeks!

Blog Challenge: Days 14 and 15

Hello! I obviously have been AWOL all weekend. I just had a really long, busy, tiring weekend and didn't spend much time at the computer. Rest and sleep trumped blog.

But I'm back! I will write about days 14/15 today.

First: My First Memory

I don't really know. I have lots of memories from when I was a kid but none from when I was REALLY young. I remember most things in groups and can't discern age of when they individually happened. For example, one of my best memories is spending lots and lots of time at the beach growing up. We lived in Southern California, and my mom didn't work so we went to the beach a lot. I have very specific memories of different beaches, showering the sand off before we left, having competitions with my brothers who could pull the biggest hunk of seaweed on shore and so on. That's why I crave the beach so much as an adult.

I also remember spending a lot of time at the park. My Grandpa was very physically active and would go to the park every morning to run or walk laps. This particular park had stations along the outer path that you could stop and do exercises at, with pictures of the exercises at the station. I would run along with him and try my hardest to do the exercises but never could quite do it right.

We lived with my grandparents and every morning they would pick a grapefruit from the tree in our backyard, split it and each have half with a little sugar and a bowl of cereal. I loved it when they let me go out and pick the "best" one for them.

I remember being hit by a car when I was 6. That's the only memory I specifically remember my age. I was on my bike, trying to follow my older brother and his friend on their bikes. They crossed a busy street we were not allowed to be near, and instead of stopping, I tried to follow. I heard a loud screech and turned my head in time to see a car coming right at me, braking so hard I saw sparks come out the sides of the tires. It didn't hit me very hard, but hard enough to mangle my brand new bike and send my arm through the spokes and face into the pavement. I have no idea how I didn't break anything. The nice stranger who hit me carried me home (my house was 2 streets over) and I remember my mom opening the door with a horrified look on her face. I was later so scared of getting an xray they paid me 10 cents to lie still enough for it. Haha. Dimes are in high demand when you're 6.

I remember my mom coming into my room every night and singing a song to me and tickling my tummy before falling asleep. My mom was good to her babies. I miss that mom.

Oh and Patrick Swayze bought a house for his mom at the top of my street. I loved him when I was little so when I heard this I wrote him a love letter and hand delivered it to his mom. She told me I was the cutest thing ever and that she would get me an autographed picture for me, but I never went back. I was upset that Patrick wasn't there. He was probably off Dirty Dancing somewhere.

Is it weird that I don't remember specific things from when I was very young? I think it's a little bit sad...

On to our next topic. The original idea was to list my favorite Tumblrs, but I have no idea what that is, so I'm gonna go ahead and change that. I saw something Emily did the other day on her blog that I will just steal. :)

I am...woman, hear me roar.
I want...to have a healthy pregnancy resulting in healthy baby.
I have...a wonderful life.
I wish...I was lying on the beach.
I hate...bad manners.
I fear...being a bad mom.
I search...ksl classifieds for a dresser everyday..haha.
I wonder...if the nugget will look anything like me. Judging the ultrasound..not so much.
I regret...not being more upfront with my parents.
I love...my husband. And french fries. And chocolate.
I ache...a lot in my feet and a little in my heart.
I always...drink ice water.
I usually...leave my house way later than i should to get to work when I should.
I am not...skinny. i got the wrong genes for that one. thanks Dad.
I dance...in my living room with my husband..and sometimes for clients.
I sing...all the damn time.
I never...do the dishes. I have the best husband ever.
I sometimes...get really mad about things I cant change.
I cry...a lot. Its really annoying.
I am not always...good at faking it. Moods I mean.
I lose...patience quickly.
I am confused...by how my Mom can be so.. just so.
I need...a big deep jetted tub.
I should...start letting go.

Blog Challenge: Day 13

Today sucks. It was going so well to begin with. It's my day off so I slept in (I've been sooo tired lately) and lounged around for awhile before cleaning up a bit. I thought I heard my doorbell ring but I wasn't sure and I never really answer the door when I'm home alone anyways, so I ignored it. About 15 minutes later I went upstairs to discover some old man walking around my front yard with a long pole in his hand. I had no idea what was going on. I got myself dressed and went outside to find my neighbors out there just about to leave.

Apparently all the sprinklers along the front sidewalk were pouring water out of them, flooding the grass and street. My nice little neighbor was searching for my water shutoff but couldn't find it. They left and i panicked, unsure of what to do. I ran downstairs to the main shutoff, turned it off and ran back upstairs but the water was still running. I called Daniel about 10 times and couldn't get through. I had no idea where else to look for another shut off so I wandered the house and yard. Finally I got Daniel on the phone and he told me it was in the garden in some random hole and I had to get our long metal T-shaped tool thingy to turn it off. I stuck it down in there and turned it, hoping for the best. It's about 5 feet down in the ground so I had no idea if I was doing it right and all of a sudden I hear spraying water, so I freaked out thinking I had now made it worse. But relief! I checked the front and the water had stopped. Crisis averted.


Then I got to spend some time at the Drivers License Division, go to Home Depot to get some money back they overcharged me on carpet and check out the local Rec center since we cancelled our Gold's membership (which I'm very sad about).


On to home where I promptly drop my phone on the kitchen tile, which apparently cracked my touch screen. Now the phone works, but the screen doesn't. Since its a touch screen, i can't do anything. I see these texts and calls come in but I cant even look at them because it doesn't register my touch. Lame.



Are you still with me?



Good. now's the perfect time to daydream about today's topic: Somewhere I'd like to move or visit.


Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a beach girl. Give me the ocean and I will love you forever. My dream is to live in a little beach town, where my sole purpose in life is to walk the beaches and bask in the glory of the sunshine. However, I married someone with a couple of things that keeps him permanently in Utah. I do love this state, because it's gorgeous and there is lots for me to enjoy in the summer. But... it doesn't have the ocean.


So, I told Daniel he has to take me to a beach every year to make up for not moving me to one. He hasn't made that happen every year, but close. I would LOVE to visit Hawaii one day, but for now it's way too out of my price range. I would love to see Fiji and Tahiti and any remote island with white sand and bright blue water. Ahhh... bliss.

Other than beaches though, my dream is to visit multiple places in Europe, mainly France and Italy. I have a mild obsession in my head with visiting Paris. Pretty much every part of Italy calls to me too. Rome, Venice, Milan, Capri..all of it. Oh and pretty much all the Greek islands need to be seen too. I think I should have been born a European. I would much rather work to live and enjoy the slow life than live to work and watch life tick by without me.


Ok I think that's enough. Those are my top places I would love to see, although really seeing the whole world wouldn't be so bad. A girl can dream, right?

Blog Challenge: Day 12

Today I'm supposed to bullet list my whole day. Too bad this has been the lamest day ever.

• My alarm clock went off until 9:30.
• I snoozed until 10:30.
• I finally got out of bed at 11.
• I ate a bowl of cheerios.
• I showered and got myself ready.
• I drove to work.
• I did lots of hair.
• I got off late at 8:30.
• I looked at Facebook on my phone before driving home and got really mad for a minute.
• I got home and changed into my warm pajamas.
• I ate lasagna and garlic bread that my husband had waiting for me.
• I ate a bowl of Rocky Road ice cream
• I watched Bill Maher on tv while surfing the internet.
• I started watching 'Groundhog Day' while blogging.

The End.

Blog Challenge: Day 11

Today I am to put my Ipod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs:

Good, a mindless one, since my brain is fried today.

1. She's Got a Way- Billy Joel
2. I'll Follow You Into the Dark- Deathcab for Cutie
3. To Make You Feel My Love- Adele
4. Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay- Otis Redding
5. What I Got- Sublime
6 .Two Pina Coladas- Garth Brooks
7. I'm Not Calling You a Liar- Florence and the Machine
8. Manhattan- Kings of Leon
9. Airplanes- B.O.B. and Hayley Williams
10. Lightening Storm- Flogging Molly

I'm actually quite impressed with my shuffle tonight. That's a pretty good example of my wide range of music. I listen to a little of everything. I'm surprised there wasn't any Led Zeppelin or Counting Crows in that mix though...